How’s many fish

[philfish89]

Hi all.. I’m a reasonably new fish keeper and 1st time poster to this forum so go easy on me lol.
I have a Jewel lido 120 tank with 9 guppies in it. I’d like them to have some tank mates and I’m interested in swordtails, mollies and maybe Cory dora’s. My question is how many fish can I have in my tank. I was thinking of 4 swordtails 4 mollies and 3 Corydoras. Will this be ok along with my guppies. Thanks.
Phil

 

[IHaveADogToo]

That's a lot of prolific livebearers, between the guppies, the swordtails, and the mollies.

They will crossbreed.

Corydoras are a shoaling (schooling) species and need to be kept in groups of at least 6. Some people will say 3, but really that's like the bare minimum, and they won't be happy in a group of 3.

What kind of corydoras are you thinking about? Most corys like the water cooler than guppies do, but some types of cory, such as the bronze cory, do well in the higher temps that guppies like.

 

[philfish89]

I do quite like the bronze Cory. Is this something I could keep with my guppies. So am I right in thinking I should only keep either mollies or swordtails with my guppies but not both. Along with about 4 -5 corys.
Phil

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

I prefer to keep only 1 species of livebearers per tank, eg: mollies, swordtails or guppies, rather than mixing species. Platies & swordtails will hybridise with each other but guppies and mollies won't, altho the male livebearers are randy little sods that will do it with your hand if they get a chance

Mollies also require hard alkaline water and Corydoras don't particularly like hard water.

If you have guppies and Corydoras that would work. You could add some platies instead of swordtails. Platies are smaller than swordtails and a little more peaceful so would make better tank mates for the guppies. Otherwise just keep guppies and Corydoras (aka Cories). The guppies will breed prolifically and you can sell the surplus young to a shop or trade them in for store credit and buy another tank with the credit